It's nothing
by wayofthepen
Summary: Rin falls seriously ill, and Sesshoumaru seeks treatment for her. But it's not a simple a task as he might expect...
1. Chapter 1

That sound again.

Sesshoumaru paused in his stride. He'd been hearing that sound more and more, the first time being a day or so ago. He'd not given a single thought to it, ignoring it completely at first, but it was growing louder, deeper, more frequent.

He turned around. A dozen strides behind him on the dusty road, Jaken trotted around, stopping suddenly when he realized his lord had stopping moving forward, making a surprised sound and inquiring as to his desires.

Sesshoumaru ignored him.

A dozen more paces, and he saw Rin riding Ah-Un. But something was amiss. He could see her shivering, although the night was warm enough, even for a human's thin skin. He heard the sound again as she opened her mouth and coughed, an ugly sound that sent an equally ugly smell wafting past.

"Rin."

"S…Sesshoumaru-sama?"

Rin lifted her face to him, and her skin was pale, her eyes shrunken. She wobbled in the saddle, her small face scrunching with the effort of trying to focus on him, though it was not even night yet, and there was no reason she should not be able to see him.

"W-what is…it…"

Rin's voice trailed away, her eyes closed, and her body went limp, tilting to one side. Sesshoumaru was a blur, catching her before she could fall out of the saddle, and he spoke her name once more. She didn't answer.

"Rin! When Sesshoumaru-sama speaks, you must-"

"**Silence**, Jaken."

Jaken gulped and fell back as Sesshoumaru leaned down and focused on the child before him. She was unconscious, and her breathing was ragged to his ears. What little breath escaped her lips carried the smell of decay, and as he looked yet closer, he saw tiny flecks of blood on her robes that he knew was her own.

Rin was…what was it called.

Ah yes.

Sick.

"Jaken."

"M-My lord?"

Jaken stood sweating as Sesshoumaru paused a few moments continuing.

"What does a human do to heal itself after falling ill?"

"I wouldn't know, my lord. Actually, I don't think they can. Humans are weak, living in fifth and always getting one sickness or another. One little disease and they just drop dead, really…"

By the tiniest measure, the slightest pull of muscles, Sesshoumaru put on an expression of displeasure. For Jaken, he knew it was the equivalent of any other Youkai screaming with murderous rage.

"B-b-b-but I-I s-suppose they would be taken to a h-healer. Or a priest! Well, if the human was about to die-but I'm sure that's not the case!"

Sesshoumaru turned away as Jaken continued to babble. He reached out to the winds, feeling the currents of the air and the scents they carried. The scents of the forest and the fields. Musk and blood of the animals of the forest. The dampness of an approaching storm. And in the middle of it all, the unmistakable smell of human sweat and toil, a village of fair size, he supposed.

Ignoring Jaken's ramblings, Sesshoumaru turned towards the scent, keeping his eyes, as always, on the road ahead.

Always, but save those few moments he glanced to his side at Rin, slumped and motionless in the saddle.


	2. Chapter 2

Sesshoumaru cared little for humans, and even less for the minutiae of their daily lives. But as he approached the sprawling village, he began to feel something was amiss. The sun was only just setting, yet the village seemed almost deserted. He knew human villages kept to a predictable routine, of waking, working in the rice fields, of times for eating and resting. There should still be men returning from working in the rice fields, women in the streets attending daily chores, the sounds of children at play.

And yet…it was quiet.

Sesshoumaru could _sense_that humans were here, a great many of them. And yet, the presence was…stifled somehow. As he walked into the village proper, the wind kicked up, and a scent rose around him, so strong and palatable that it was like crashing into a solid wall of it.

The scent of rot and death.

Tenseiga began to rattle in its sheath, Sesshoumaru feeling the sword react to the aura of death around it. He placed his hand on the blade's hilt to still it, but he was momentarily surprised when he found his hand hadn't been resting at his side – it had been stretched out, laying gently on Rin's back.

He couldn't remember laying his hand on her. And why would he have done such a bizarre thing in the first place?

Any further thoughts were put aside as a man in peasant garb shuffled around a corner, who stopped and startled at the sight of the daiyouki standing proudly in the dusty road with a dragon and a second, smaller youkai waiting on his heels.

"Where is the healer of this village?"

The man only gaped, and Sesshoumaru smelt fear mix into the surroundings. He didn't like being forced to repeat himself, but he found he had no patience to wait for the human to regain his composure.

"This girl is sick. Where will I find a healer?"

The human began to mumble, not managing to speak but only half-turning and gesturing weakly towards what looked like a small shrine in the distance. Sesshoumaru was already on his way, and the peasant stumbled out of his way, watching the strange procession as it passed.

A few minutes later, Jaken raced ahead of his master to pound his staff on the door to the small temple, announcing his lord's arrival and demanding attention. As Sesshoumaru approached, the door slid open to show a young monk who jumped at the sight before him, fumbling with a set of prayer beads. Jaken immediately began squawking and declaring his master's desires.

Sesshoumaru ignored the two of them for a moment as his gaze was drawn further up the hillside. It reeked with the scent of freshly turned earth, and he could see the graveyard behind the temple was filled to the point of overflowing, the mounds of many fresh graves laying just outside the low fence that marked its boundaries. Many of the graves didn't even have proper headstones, only wooden stakes with hastily carved names to identify the soul resting beneath.

"What kind of monk are you? Besides that, you dare to refuse Sesshou-"

"Enough, Jaken."

If the small youkai had startled the monk, then Sesshoumaru simply terrified him, approaching with such a forceful bearing that the rest of the world melted away while he spoke.

"Is there a healer here, or not?"

"M-my teacher is d-dead, claimed by this plague. I've done what I can, but…"

"But?"

The single word from the daiyoukai was decidedly sharp in it's pronunciation.

Barbed and poisoned, too.

"T-t-the shipment of healing herbs we expected from another temple was waylaid by bandits! They've demanded an exorbitant price for the herbs that we simply have no way to pay. Without them, all of the people in this village may…"

"Where are these bandits to be found?"

"Ah…a ravine in the forest to the south, but…"

Sesshoumaru was already gone, leaving the monk and the youkai to stare at the suddenly empty space.

Jaken looked askance at the monk. The human was equally uncomfortable. Then, wordlessly, they went about their ingrained habits, the monk taking Rin into the temple while Jaken took Ah-Un's reigns, leaning on his staff and waiting patiently for his unquestionable master to return.

* * *

Sesshoumaru passed by the wagon train that the bandits had raided. He sorted through the faded scents and found the correct trail among the false ones the bandits had laid to confuse pursuit. Deep in the forest, he was a blur between the trees, moving silently but for the rush of air at his passage, until his speed slowed to a walk. The mouth of a large cave loomed before him, echoing with the sounds of life. Filthy, drunken life that insulted Sesshoumaru by simply being near him.

A group of men, who might have trying to pass as sentries, leapt out as he climbed the stones towards the entrance, yelling challenges that were cut off mid-word. As the bodies fell away in tattered strips and added a crimson tint to the night's mists, Sesshoumaru finished the climb with a single jump, more then fifty feet straight upwards to the cave's entrance.

He hadn't the patience to find another way, so as to avoid getting any blood on his person, and just standing there to let their viscera rain down on him was simply out of the question.

* * *

"Boss! BO-"

Tanaka had been the leader of these bandits for more then ten years. He'd raided villages, murdered, raped, tortured, seen a hundred ways a man could die, and invented a few new ones himself. When he heard the first scream, he sent a few men off with a nod. When the screams didn't stop, but grew louder and closer, the men around him reached for their weapons. He smashed the jug of sake he'd been drinking from over the head of a man who'd begun to back away, and left him on the ground to paw at the cuts on his face. He wouldn't allow a show of cowardice, or allow a chance to show his own power over them pass by.

He picked up his sword, a fine ancestral blade he'd taken from a young nobles corpse, and a look from him froze his men in place and drove any thoughts of retreat from their minds. It was a testament to his ruthlessness as a leader that they didn't move even as Tanaka's best swordsman returned missing both arms.

Fighting his way through those men had been like wading through filth, and when he stepped into the largest room in the cave, Sesshoumaru saw the king of this place sitting on a rotting throne with a stolen blade. Sesshoumaru had met with the leaders among the tribes of other Youkai. He had always been given due respect and shown proper reverence, his power clear to all but the most dull-witted youkai. In those other times he'd deigned to speak with the 'nobility' among humans, even when surrounded by their armies or within the walls of their own castles, he had heard the respect in their voices and seen the fear in their faces.

But this man, this thief, this lord-of-trash looked at him as if he was less than nothing, not a guest or an enemy or even as a threat. The expression he wore told Sesshoumaru he regarded him as something on the level of…an irritant.

Smoke rose at Sesshoumaru's feet, as venom leaked from his claws and ate into the stone.

"You stole a shipment of medicinal herbs. Give them to me."

Sesshoumaru thought that he'd been quite clear in his intent, and seriously expected the man to regain his senses from wherever he'd left them, to return the herbs if only for a small chance to escape death.

"'Yer a youkai, huh?"

For just a moment, perhaps the first such moment in his life, Sesshoumaru experienced complete and utter bewilderment.

…Oh.

The man was insane.

Obviously.

"Damn, whenever one of you come around…"

Sesshoumaru stepped forward, hoping one of the other humans would be more lucid, even as the man grasped a moldy rope hanging by his side.

"It's always a mess to clean up!"

The rope was pulled, and ragged cloths on the walls, like tapestries, fell away. Sparks flared, the room was bathed in light, and Sesshoumaru felt a powerful wave of energy that hammered into his soul and pushed him down.

"Used to be a temple. Took good care of it too, just in case."

Somehow, against all reason, a rock was thrown at Sesshoumaru, and he couldn't avoid it.

"Even got a monk in here to bless it now and again. You never know when some monster's gonna crawl out of the forest…"

The bandits were around him, and Sesshoumaru saw the fear was gone from their faces. Even as the light from the prayers and sutras burned white-hot on his skin, Sesshoumaru lifted his hand to the small spot of pain from where he'd been hit.

He'd been hit?

There was motion, and Sesshoumaru moved, but not fast enough. Somewhere in the haze, a man laughed, and he smelled something he was not accustomed to.

His blood.

His**blood.**

The bandits spat curses and insults as they closed in, emboldened by the youkai freezing in place as so many others had done before it, before they had stepped in, laughing and mocking the crippled beast as they had killed each one in turn. But none of them noticed the ancient etchings were beginning to smolder, no one heard when one of the incense burners cracked.

This **boDY i**S beING **sTRuCK **by**FILthy disGUSTing…**

"What's wrong, youkai?!"

One of the men reached down, grabbing the limp form by the hair, yanking the head up so he could brag of spitting in a youkai's face as he killed it.

"Nothing to s-"

The man's body exploded, coating his friends with blood and marking the ceiling with his death. The Pillars that bore the sutras shrieked as they fractured and fell to pieces, the men crying out and stumbling as the cave shook and darkened.

After the ground stilled, the leader of the bandits stood up at last, coughing and waving dust away from his face. He immediately tripped over something in the gloom and grunted as his knee hit the floor. He cursed in the dark and reached back on pure stupid reflex to see what it was, and his hand came back with something wet, fleshly, and completely unidentifiable.

"What is this?"

There was something else. A sound. It was low and quiet and cut through the dark and the surprise and the ache in his knee. It drew his gaze past the dying fire in the center of the room; past misshapen lumps that streamed in the cool cave air. It brought him to a shape that twisted as he watched, as too-big fangs forced their way out of a mouth that struggled to grow fast enough to hold them. Brought him to a pair of eyes that glowed red with bottomless malice.

"_**Humans…"**_

* * *

A short while later, the forest shook as trees were uprooted, birds taking flight and animals scattering for cover for miles around. Rock groaned and split, tumbling down to fill the space beneath. Sesshoumaru stepped out of the once-cave as the earth rumbled around him, and his clothes ruffling were the only effect the booming of collapsing rock seemed to have on him.

All of that, and the herbs had been taken from that place shortly before he'd even arrived. He lifted his hand, just once, to brush at the dirt on his body before getting his bearings and setting off. The castle was a fair distance away, and he didn't care to waste any more time.

He'd allowed himself some time to correct the human's lack of etiquette, of course, but that had been a necessary delay.


	3. Chapter 3

The guard yawned and leaned on his spear, glancing sidelong to see his companions fast asleep. He'd lost the last game of dice, so it was his turn to stay awake and prod his squad awake if any officers came around. Really, this was one of the most heavily fortified castles in the province. And it was so far from the border there was no way-

A flash of white cut across his field of vision, and he shot to his feet and stumbled out the door of the guardhouse, coming to drowsy attention before the nobleman that was outside.

"I was told a shipment of medicinal herbs was sent here two nights ago."

"Huuuuh?"

A glare from the nobleman brought the guard to full wakefulness.

"Y-yes!"

"Where will I find them?"

"In the castle, of c…wait…who are you? I don't recognize…"

Sesshoumaru turned away, resolving to leave further inquiries to his nose alone. It, at least, performed reliably and without undue nuisance.

"Hey!"

The guard raised his spear to the man who was already moving away when a low whistling sound made him turn. He opened his mouth to shout an alarm, just in time to disappear under a tidal wave of dust and debris. He was left coughing and choking on a cloud that had washed over the castle walls and trailed back down the hillside, through the outlying town, and marked a route clear across the plains to a forest many miles to the west.

Sesshoumaru's legs shook imperceptivity as the dust settled around him. He could not recall ever feeling to need to run at such a pace over such a distance in his entire life, and after a moment's thought, marked it up to nothing more then his growing impatience and irritation at this delay in his search for Naraku.

* * *

Inside the castle proper, the air was thick with a multitude of strange scents. Many layers of incense had soaked into the walls and tapestries. He smelled herbs he could not name, some that were almost pleasing, some that were already clawing at his lungs, and he knew that they would have sickened or killed a lesser being. There were stranger things, too. Acrid chemicals, the musty smell of the long dead…

Sesshoumaru strode deeper into the castle, brushing through the scents swirling around him. He resisted the base urge to raise his nose into the air like a common animal, and kept his head level as he pulled a screen aside, only allowing himself to turn his head from side to side slightly as one new aroma or another wafted past.

He raised a hand to pull a screen aside, and the slightest creak of leather was the only warning as the point of a spear stabbed out through the paper towards him. His hand snapped upwards and caught the half, the point of the blade an inch from his face. Sesshoumaru tore the weapon away and thrust it viciously back at it's former wielder, the tang of blood cutting through the mass of smells around him.

For just a moment, Sesshoumaru experienced surprise. There were a great many scents that he now noticed, and he thought that the haze he had been walking though might be one of this building's defenses, to dampen the senses of an attacker. Indeed, he could now smell many humans behind the screen, and he tore the panel away to find, perhaps, a group of professional youkai exterminators lying in wait?

A mob of common guards stood before him, fearfully holding spears and blades in defense of their liege, a stick-thin man who was being hurried away. Now, he experienced a moment of almost shame, mentally chastising himself for not sensing them earlier, for almost letting humans disgrace his person, twice in one night, no less!

His arm tensed, a tiny golden light sparking to life at the end of one fingertip. Sesshoumaru purposefully held his hand a moment, to be sure there was no sudden ambush on inane plan to surprise him though sheer human unpredictability.

The humans yelled challenges and charged forwards. Two motions with his hand reduced the men before him to rags, and a twist of his wrist coated the noble in his escort's blood.

"Now…"

There was a slight gasp of pain, a man on the ground who was not dead, pierced though the stomach with the haft of his own spear. Sesshoumaru sliced the man to quarters without slowing as he stepped into the room.

"About a certain shipment of herbs…"

The nobleman fell to the ground, scrambling across the floor and reaching for a fallen guard's naganata. Sesshoumaru crossed the room with a single step and stomped a foot down on the weapon's half. He'd had quite enough irritation for one night.

But somehow, Sesshoumau's foot hit bare floor, and the human slashed at him with inhuman speed. Sesshoumaru was a blur, moving back and out of reach with the human pursuing, who was screeching like an animal. Sesshoumaru stopped suddenly and braced himself, Toukijin sliding out with a whisper of parting air and shattering the human weapon as it was raised in defense. A dark shape leapt away as Toukijin continued on it's course and cut into the human before it, but there was no resistance, nothing was cut but a empty suit of human skin that was incinerated by the force of Sesshoumaru's youki.

"Kamaitachi."

The weasel youkai chittered unintelligibly, unraveling a grey sash from it's thin waist. It solidified into a pale grey sickle that seemed to pull at and distort the light around it, and the youkai raised his weapon high before dashing forwards, screaming at the top of it's lungs.

The weasel youkai's image was a mere flickering shadow, crossing the room in half a moment and bringing the sickle in low. But the trinket it carried was not enough to hide the weasel from his eyes, and Sesshoumaru stepped forward with Toukijin, slapping the sickle down hard. Even as the pale blade stabbed into the wood of the floor, the weasel twisted its body in almost a full circle, twisting his wrist to release the blade from the wood. Like a taut spring being released, the spin of its body and the sudden release of the blade from where it had been stuck a millisecond before brought the sickle around for a second strike many times faster then the first.

As fast as the slash was, it's motion was clear, a simple horizontal cut aimed at Sesshoumaru's abdomen, and wood splintered under his feet as he twisted and parried the blow. Even the sound of the sickle against his own blade seemed dull somehow, and Sesshoumaru watched this fast-moving youkai carefully as it retreated back across the room.

It was a fair-sized hall for receiving many guests, with deep shadows behind pillars and curtains. But Sesshoumaru would not lose sight of…

Wait…

What was this?

Sesshoumaru nearly turned away from his opponent in surprise, but the feeling of it was unmistakable. He had been cut, and he felt the warmth of his own blood as it trailed down his side. Even though he _knew_he had blocked the sickle, felt the impact on his blade straight up his arm to the shoulder and down to his feet, yet somehow…

The weasel shrieked out high-pitched laughter as he saw the daiyoukai finally realize it, watched with glee as Sesshoumaru, like so many other of the kamaitachi's opponents before, visibly shift from suddenly feeling the pain of the wound to focusing back on his opponent, to thinking of the last attack, replaying it in his mind and back again.

And utterly failing to understand how he had been wounded.

* * *

"Keh…"

The point of Toukijin stabbed into the floor, and Sesshoumaru worked to keep upright, to not allow the gesture appear as one of weakness. He had taken more then a dozen cuts from the Kamaitachi's strange weapon. Even the pain of the cuts was dull and distant, and it was difficult for Sesshoumaru to gauge the full extent of his injuries. But observing the bleeding of each cut and testing his limbs was enough to tell Sesshoumaru that he could still fight.

But to be taken this far…

The castle was in far worse condition. The floor was a hazard in itself now, the thick wooden planks having been deeply gouged by the weasel's claws as they sought the needed purchase to propel the youkai at those insane speeds, or shattered outright from the force of Sesshoumaru's steps. Mats had been shredded to their component fibers, tossed up like leaves as the two combatants moved. Those bodies that were not pulverized outright during the conflict had been reduced to an unrecognizable slush by the poison that had begun to seep out from Sesshoumaru's claws. In a moment of anger, an entire wall had been completely blown out by the force of Sesshoumaru's Souryuuha, and the cool night air that was washing away the haze around him was of little consolation when he saw the Kamaitachi had somehow miraculously escaped even the smallest injury.

"You made a terrible mistake to come here…"

Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at the first understandable words the youkai had spoken. Throughout the fight, it had been nothing but piercing shrieks and ear-splitting screams that had announced his attacks, and quiet, mocking laughter that echoed around Sesshoumaru as the weasel darted from one shadow to another. But now, the Kamaitachi was walking calmly forward with such an arrogant swagger normally reserved for when your opponent was staring up at you from the floor – minus his arms and legs.

"And you were a fool to challenge us!"

Us?

The youkai made slow, lazy motions with it's blade as it said something about its power, or reputation, but Sesshoumaru wasn't listening. He was too busy with what his nose was telling him.

Kamaitachi… 

"This battle is over! Now, at last, you shall-"

"Of course…"

The weasel paused mid-step in confusion at his opponent's sudden change in behavior. Sesshoumaru sighed, openly, stretching out his sore body and casually releasing Toukijin, his hand now free to straighten his clothes and move some stray hair from his face. A part of Sesshoumaru wanted to forget this entire event, to scourge this embarrassment from his memory. But it was an experience to be retained; a lesson to take note of so such a mistake would never be repeated.

"For a moment…I considered giving you praise for confusing even _my_senses."

Sesshoumaru pulled Toukijin from the floor, and held it casually at the ready.

"The qualities of your weapon…the miasma hanging over this place…even that human skin you wore…against any other opponent, they might have given an advantage, even to you, a youkai of such _low class_."

The weasel sputtered with indignation, forsaking any other human words for more bestial noises as it moved forwards once again.

"But I could never acknowledge an opponent…"

The rhythm of it's footsteps reached a crescendo, and the weasel once again became a blur of motion, screaming as it flew across the room towards Sesshoumaru.

"Who is unable…"

The incoming blade hit Toukijin softly, Sesshoumaru carefully absorbing the force of the impact so the two blades would not fly apart. Once his sword was inside the sickle's curved edge, he straightened Toukijin and pressed down hard, trapping the two blades together and quietly savoring the look of surprise on the weasel's face as its arm was wrenched down, almost to the floor, trying to keep from losing its grip on the sickle and being disarmed.

"To fight me alone!"

The weasel shrieked in pain it's hand was crushed against the floor as Sesshoumaru pushed off, somersaulting upwards and kicking out, his foot smashing against something behind him. He twisted his legs and unfurled them with such force that he spun in the air, extending the other leg and registering a second impact to his left. His feet now firmly on the floor, Sesshoumaru finally saw clearly the full extent of the opposition. Far away, the jaw of a second kamaitachi flopped uselessly, completely dislocated from the force of the blow and that already bore a deep cut across one cheek. A third kamaitachi was in no better condition, senseless and slightly charred. Each of the three weasels was nearly identical to each other, from their weapons, to their clothes, and even to the colors and patterns of their fur.

"Your speed, screams, and even the synchronization of your youki…You carefully combined your actions to appear as if there was only a single opponent. And even if one of you were to be injured, another would simply take the place as the one visible fighter. But I was certain that my earlier cut had landed, just as I was sure that you could not have so completely escaped my Souryuuha, and as the air cleared, I finally realized the truth. Now, this battle is over."

Toukijin returned to it's place, and Sesshoumaru took a moment to compose himself, trying to tune out the scream of agony behind him. The kamaitachi he'd crossed blades with a moment before was only now realizing his injury, and blood was spurting everywhere from the stump of it's sword arm, courtesy of Toukijin's longer blade and the corkscrew motion Sesshoumaru's body had made in the air. The weasel might of kept it's hand if it'd simply let go of the sickle.

Now all that was left to find the-

The floor shifted under Sesshoumaru's feet, and he leapt away as what was left of the floorboards peeled upwards and away. A figure emerged from the ground, stooped and limping, an old crone that was accompanied by a fresh wave of horrible scents.

"So, you seek the herbs I stole, do you? You did well to defeat my guards, but now you face-"

"So you have them?"

"…Huh?"

"The medicinal herbs. They **are **in your possession, are they not?"

"Yes! But they are mine to enjoy! And you shall not-"

Sesshoumaru had to crouch to enter the cold, dirt-hewn passage beneath the castle, and could not help but raise his hand over his nose protectively. The haze of scents was even thicker here.

"Take them from…where did you…"

The hag sensed Sesshoumaru behind her and turned, willing her terrible iron claws to come forth. But her claws did not answer her, and she tripped as she turned, falling flat and tumbling back down the tunnel to see the daiyoukai calmly lifting the crate of herbs she'd worked so hard to acquire. She railed and cursed him endlessly as she lay paralyzed, and he stepped over her prone form with his prize and left without another word.

It wasn't until a moment after Sesshoumaru vanished that the Hag realized the truth of her predicament, looking at her reflection in a copper pot. It wasn't that her body was paralyzed, just that she had no body to command.


	4. Chapter 4

I feel I should apologize for the quality of the final chapter, as the majority of it was written at 4 a.m. under the influence of equal parts chocolate and rum.

* * *

Sesshoumaru flew effortlessly through the sky, his true form cutting through the clouds and casting a long shadow on the ground below. Holding the crates in his mouth for so long was making his jaw ache, and the smell of the herbs scratched at his throat and tempted him to spit the offending mass out.

Acting like a common animal was humiliating, but there was no other way. At least no one else would know.

"Hey."

A shadow made the small group pause, and the hanyou with them pointed a finger at a shape weaving through the clouds.

"Isn't that…"

* * *

Jaken awoke with a start, picking his hat up and replacing it on his head. He'd been having such a nice dream too…but it was foolish to dwell on such things. He would never be _that_ tall. He shifted his small body to get more comfortable, but just as his head bobbed down a familiar feeling made him scramble to his feet and run for the door.

"Sesshoumaru-sama! You-"

The door was flung open with all the strength Jaken could muster, and he gazed upwards, so relieved to see his master…

Scratched, bruised, slashed, bloody, dirty, and foul-smelling yet still standing proudly, Sesshoumaru glared down at the small youkai with force enough to singe his eyebrows.

"Have…returned…I have anxiously awaited your-"

"I have recovered the stolen medicine." Sesshoumaru spoke the words with such finality, that when Jaken only then noticed the crates beyond, it made him think they might had simply popped into existence at the moment of his master's statement.

"I-I shall summon the monk at o-once!"

Jaken bowed so fast he nearly flipped himself over, before turning and running full-tilt in no particular direction, yelling for the monk's attendance at the very top of his tiny lungs. Left behind, Sesshoumaru took one look down at the state he was in before turning and disappearing.

* * *

"Mnnn…"

The unconscious vocalization, as quiet as it was, only made Sesshoumaru realize just how tense he had truly been. He'd blasted a rough basin out of a rock outcropping and filled it with near-boiling water, a simplistic spell that he knew Jaken indulged himself with on occasion. Sesshoumaru would normally have preferred a proper bath, with attendants and luxuries to suit him, but the rock kettle he was steaming in was at the moment the most wonderful thing he could imagine.

Everything he'd been through in the last day was slowly being washed away, and he sank downwards in perfect contentment. The medicine was recovered, Rin would be treated, and he would be back on the hunt for Naraku soon enough.

"Hmmm…"

Yes…soon…

A brush of his hand smoothed out the rock, making the seating _much_more comfortable. This accursed day was finally-

A branch snapped.

For some bizarre reason, his eyes tried to roll aimlessly in their sockets instead of focusing on the noise, and Sesshoumaru nearly sighed when the sound was followed by a familiar scent and voice.

"Over here!"

It appeared the day was not _quite_ over.

"Sesshoumaru!"

Hand on Tessaiga, Inuyasha burst into view. Sesshoumaru didn't bother getting up.

The two stared at each other. Inuyasha's lips curled back, fangs bared and ready to draw at a moment's notice. Sesshoumaru was too busy rubbing a tense muscle on his leg into submission to notice. More noise and voices rolled past, and soon Sesshoumaru had a full audience.

"What are you doing here, Sesshoumaru?"

"Bathing. It's not something I expect you to understand."

Inuyasha began to growl in what Sesshoumaru took as yet another ridiculous attempt at posturing. The attempt fell flat, literally, the human girl giggling at his remark and eventually invoking some spell after Inuyasha began berating her for it.

The monk and the demon-slayer were much more reserved, obviously realizing that any kind of confrontation would be utterly pointless. The slayer carefully stepped around Inuyasha, still spitting dirt from his mouth, with the monk staying close by her side.

"I find it difficult to believe you simply took a break from hunting Naraku."

"True. Rin fell sick, and I am waiting for her to recover before continuing."

"Rin-chan?" The oddly-dressed girl moved up to the rim of the pool, ignoring Inuyasha as he stood and began to complain. "So she caught the disease the youkai were spreading?"

Sesshoumaru's eyes flicked back to the slayer, registering a sudden tension that she seemed to be trying to hide.

"What do you mean?"

"We heard that a sorceress was spreading a plague to extort tribute from the countries' lord. But when we went to speak to him about it-"

"-The human was long dead." Sesshoumaru finished for her. "Replaced by the witches' servant."

"So it **was **you!"

Sesshoumaru nodded and sank deeper into the pool, watching the intruding group turn and babble amongst themselves without any regard for the situation. Really, wasn't there any way to be rid of them that did not involve leaving the water?

Yes!

"You're sick, aren't you?"

"Huh?"

The slayer straightened, shifting the weight of her weapon onto her back. She had set it down for just a moment, but it was long enough to show she was not carrying the weapon as easily as she normally did.

"Sango, is that true?"

"I'm fine, Miroku!"

"The temple in the nearby village has medicine to treat the illness." Sesshoumaru intoned flatly.

The monk immediately began tugging on the slayer, insisting that she go to be treated immediately. The slayer protested, her strength obviously a point of pride. The other human girl joined in the argument, and between her pushing and the monk's tugging the slayer was slowly but surely dragged away.

That left Inuyasha, glaring at his half-brother. Sesshoumaru pointedly ignored him and sank deeper into the water. The hanyou opened his mouth again, but was mercifully interrupted by the girl calling to him, demanding his presence.

Inuyasha kicked at the dirt uselessly before scurrying off, glaring at him over his shoulder. The last movement Sesshoumaru would make for some time was to renew the spell, raising the pool's temperature and letting himself sink deeper into the water, silently swearing to be absolutely merciless to whatever might disturb him next.

* * *

Rin's fever broke the next day, and a much cleaner Sesshoumaru was waiting with Ah-Un as Rin walked out of the temple, leaving a irate Inuyasha behind complaining that Sesshoumaru would regain the lead because Sango was too sick to travel. Rin closed the door behind her to the sound of something impacting the floorboards at high speed, walking slowly down the path to Sesshoumaru's side.

"Rin."

She smelled normal, now, and her skin had returned to it's usual color.

"Jaken-sama told me you fought to get the medicine for me. Thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama!"

Sesshoumaru didn't reply, turning around and beginning to walk away. Rin reached up and grasped Ah-Un's saddle, trying to lift herself up and failing, stumbling and falling backwards.

A hand caught her before she could hit the ground.

"S-Sesshoumaru-sama?"

He lifted her up, setting her down gently on Ah-Un's back, holding on to her as she settled in, and once they had left the village a few minutes later, Rin never heard what Sesshoumaru had said under his breath, too quietly for anyone to hear.

"It's nothing…"


End file.
